The present invention pertains to storage devices and, more particularly, to a storage device for venues having limited floor space.
A number of venues abound where floor space is limited. It has been reported, for example, that the average dormitory room at a college or university averages some twelve by nineteen feet, or about 228 square feet. Since most dorm rooms are expected to house two occupants, each student is expected to live in about 114 square feet. Into this space various necessary items must be sited, including a desk for study, personal item storage and a bed. The average size of a single twin bed has been reported as being about 39 inches wide by some 75 inches long, or about 20.3 square feet, and the average dorm room desk has been reported as being about 44 inches long by 22 inches deep or about 6.7 square foot, leaving each student a meager 87 square feet both for storage of personal items, such as clothing and electronic devices, and for living space in an average dorm room. It should be noted that college dorm rooms are not the sole source of cramped venues. Other similar venues of minimal dimensions exist in a number of settings, for example on board various ships such as naval vessels, cargo ships, pleasure craft and the like. Additionally, in other countries around the world numerous settings abound with limited living space. In China for example, factory dormitory living spaces as small as 42 square feet have been reported.
A variety of storage mechanisms abound. Wall mounted devices, however, are often excluded since many colleges and universities do not permit nails or screws to be inserted into the dorm room walls. There is also a diverse plethora of storage devices, such as trunks, steamers and the like, that are not wall mounted. But all of these storage devices suffer from a common deficit. Whatever storage space is provided by the device, the available square footage of the already cramped venue is further reduced by an amount equal to the area taken up by the device on the floor. An average trunk is reported to have dimensions of 16 deep by 30 inches long by 12.5 inches height, for example, thus depriving the user of another 3.33 square feet of floor space. Thus there still exists a need for a storage device that provides storage capacity for a cramped venue without placement upon the already minuscule floor space available and without resorting to usually prohibited wall mountings. The present invention fulfills this need.